Printed pile fabric



July 22, 1930. A. F. M coLLuM PRINTED PILE FABRIC 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 19, 1921 Zwerar: vgfm zzy am V i @7 2 2 July 22, 1930. A. E. MOCOLLUM 1,771,341

PRINTED PILE FABRIC Filed Dec. 19, 1927' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 22, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE -ALFRED F. mcooLLUM, or BLOOMSBURG, -rnnnsyrvanm, ASSIGNOR TO THE MAGEE CARPET 00., O1" BLOOMSB'URG, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYL- VANIA PRINTED ZPILE FABRIC This invention relates to improvements in printed pile fabrics, and has a particularly valuble application to the printing of rugs and carpets. The principal object of the'invention is to provide simple and highly eflicient means for printing pile fabrics that will afford a printed design that will have to ,a greater degree than is obtainable by prior methods the desirable characteristics of a' woven design.

' To this end the invention'contemplates the provision of prlnting means ofnovel form .capable of printing a design on pile fabrics above.

The invention further resides in the provision of a finished product in the form of a printed pile fabric in which the printed design compares favorably as outlined above with the product of a jacquard machine.

In the attached drawings:

Fig. 1 is a face View of a printing element made in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary enlargement showing the details of one of the active, printing areas;

Fig. 3 is a section on the line 33, Fig. 2;

Figs. 4 and 5 are fragmentary enlargements similar to that of Fig. 2 illustrating modifications within the scope of the invention;

6 is a face view of a pile fabric printed in accordance with the present invention. and

Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7-7, Fig 6.

With reference to the drawings, the printing element which constitutes a part of the present invention and which in the illustrat ed embodiment takes the form of a block may have one or more elevated efi'ective printing areas conforming in shape to the design which it is desired to impose upon the pile fabric. In Fig. 1 for example I have illustrated a block 1 in which these elevated printing surfaces 2 take the form of uniformly spaced rectangles. The depth of these elevated sections will depend to some extent upon the depth of the pile, but for all ordinary purposes, a depth of of an inch will be found satisfactory.

A face view of one of these effective printing areas 2 is shown in Fig. 2, and as clearly illustrated in this figure and in the sectional view of Figure 3, the surface of this section is broken up into a series of relatively small pyramidal projections, these small pyramids being distributed uniformly over the entire surface. It will further be noted by reference particularly to F ig. 3, that this printing surface is bounded by a continuous and clearly defined wall 8 which preferably and as shown is so formed as to present at the top a relatively sharp or knife edge which also in a preferred embodiment projects slightly above the tops of the pyramids. lVhile the height of the pyramids will vary to some extent according to the depth of the pile with which the block is to be used, a height of of an inch with approximately sixty-four of the pyramidal projections per square inch of surface will be found suitable for all ordinary depths of pile. The height of the pro jections and their number per unit surface area, however, may be varied considerably as the requirements demand.

printing surface constituted as described above has been found hi ghly desirable in the printing of pile fabrics and is of prime importance in the block-printing of fabrics having a pile of considerable depth. In fact, my invention has made'practicable the printing by this method of long pile fabrics, the resulting printed product being characterized by a clean cut appearance and durability of design not readily produced even in low pile fabrics by the prior methods. The pyramidal recessed face is capable of penetrating the pile to any desired extent, and the dye held in the recesses and confined'by the boundcient to thoroughly saturate the entire I-pile and even the base warp if desired. urther, the distribution of the dyestufi is practically uniform so that the printed areas are entirely free from unevenness and irregularities of color, and in this respect the patterns compare favorably with the woven designs produced on the jacquard and like machines. Also the knife edged boundary wall 3 so restricts the flow of ,dye at the edges of the block as to give a clear definition at the edges of the printed design comparing favorably with that obtainable by any of the known and more expensive weaving methods and which like the latter extend in a clearly defined plane substantially perpendicular to the base fabric from the top of the pile to the bottom. By means of this block, there fore, I have found it possible to provide a printed rug having an entirely clear cut and finely defined design and in which each individual pile thread or tuft is uniformly colored throughout its length, and in which the colored areas are entirely uniform. I have, therefore, provided by the 'aforedescribed procedure a pile fabric having all the desirable characteristics of the more expensive article formed on the jacquard machine and which is even superior to the jacquard product by reason of the fact that the vehicle of the dye, which may be starch, flour or simi-' lar material, flowing to the extreme base of the pile and even into the base warp expands the yarn both. of the pile and base, and by this expansion as well as by the adhesive properties inherent in the vehicle binds the pile threads in the base and gives an added strength and durability not obtainable in the other type of product.

While the pyramidal surface described above is preferred, it will be understood that any type of uniformly rough or recessed surface surrounded by acontinuous bounding wall higher than the surrounding surfaces may be used with some degree of success in the practice of this invention, since with the elevated boundary wall to penetrate the pile and to'restrict the flow of the dye into the fabric, many different forms of roughened surface will he sufiicient toaflord a practi cally uniform distribution of the dye and to eliminate the streahy efi'ects resulting from the use of plain-faced type. It will be understood that the small projections from the printing surface function not only to penetrate the pile, but also to maintain a uniform distribution of the dyestufi essential to a uniformly colored surface.

In Figs. 4. and 5, for example, I have illustrated other forms of surface which may be used in the practice of my invention. In Fig. 4, the surface is broken up by uniformly distributed circular recesses, and it will be noted also that in this instance as well as in the form of face illustrated in Fig. 5, the

up 1' edge of this boundary line is not shar an knife edged as is ordinarily preferre preciable width. Also inthis but is of an a instance, the unding edge does not project above the surface in which the recesses are formed; and the edge is of stepped formation affording a design more closely resembling at the edges the effect obtainedin a woven pattern. In Fi 5, the surface is broken up by a series of ongitudinal grooves.

A printing element having the characteristics of that described above may be made of wood, lac uered or otherwise rendered proof I against a sorption of the dyestuif or an substance of suficient hardnem and not a fected by the dye. Particularly desirable re- ,sults have been obtained with aluminum, and

other metals may be used.-

Many other types of surface, may be employed, although the form illustrated in Fi 

